Tot Musica

"What is that?!"

The concert hall erupted in screams.

A giant claw stretched the dark rift above the stage wide, revealing a wide-brimmed top hat first, followed by scarlet vertical pupils, a tattered cloak trailing to the ground, and a gaping maw filled with a dense array of sharp teeth.

Tot Musica

Tot Musica, the Demon King's First Movement.

It had barely crawled halfway out when its giant claw slammed down towards the audience seats.

"Uta! Back off!"

Shanks strode to his daughter's side, Griffon was drawn with a clang.

Clang--!

The swirling, Haki blade forcefully blocked the Demon Claws, causing the stage planks to collapse and splinter.

The impact overturned the front seats, and a woman holding a child fell to the ground, unable to get up for a long time.

Shanks pressed down with his wrist, pushing the Demon Claw back half an inch.

"Run towards the exit! Don't look back!"

The chandelier overhead, connected to the stone beam, crashed down onto the audience seats.

Ron waved his left hand.

Click!

The entire row of chandeliers and the broken beam collapsed halfway down and suddenly disappeared!

A deserted beach outside the city.

Boom!!

Broken beams and chandeliers crashed into the sand, kicking up clouds of dust!

The woman picked up the child and stumbled towards the exit.

Ron didn't even bother to look at her; he opened another door at his feet and moved away the entire crumbling wall blocking the exit.

"Benn Beckman, clear the area!!"

"Leave it to me!"

Shanks glanced up at the Demon King: "What kind of monster is this?"

"We'll explain later, but first, let's hold it down!"

The two rushed forward at the same time.

Uta stood in the corner backstage, staring at the Ancient Musical Score in her hand, her face as white as paper.

"I... I only sang one note..."

Her lips moved, and the strange melody instinctively rose up in her throat again.

Smack

Rosinante snapped his fingers.

"Silence!"

Uta's voice vanished instantly.

She touched her throat in surprise, then opened her mouth and tried to sing two more lines.

No matter how hard I tried, not a single sound came out.

Rosinante had just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

In the audience, those people who had just fallen asleep were still asleep!

Hey! Wake up!

He reached out and patted one of them on the face.

No response.

Rosinante's expression changed.

The sound had been cut off, but those people's consciousness seemed to be trapped somewhere else!

He turned to look at Uta.

"Don't sing yet! Let's figure out what's going on first!"

Uta puffed out her cheeks, wanting to protest, but found she couldn't utter a single word and could only stomp her feet in frustration.

Shanks glanced back, and his heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled.

But the demon king in mid-air was still baring his fangs and brandishing his claws.

"The song has stopped, why hasn't it disappeared yet?!"

Who knows!

Ron leaped onto its side using the Air Door: "Take it apart first!"

The Demon King raised his claw to strike Shanks, Shanks met it with a sword strike.

A burst of black and Haki erupted as the giant claw cleanly severed the wrist, turning into black fragments that scattered in the air.

Click!

An Air Door opened in mid-air.

Ron stepped out of the door, Zhenyuan, shrouded in Armament Haki, slashed down from above.

Dimension Slash!

Laugh--

The blade and the heavy sword struck simultaneously, shattering half of the Demon King's body!

That's it?

Ron raised an eyebrow.

The tattered cloak suddenly billowed up, and dozens of huge black musical notes came hurtling towards them.

Ron spread his five fingers, and doors opened in the air one after another. Black musical notes entered the doors one by one, creating columns of water on the deserted sea outside the city.

The Demon King suddenly opened his huge mouth full of sharp teeth, and a dense array of musical staves floated around him.

A black wave swept across the street, lifting the paving stones like pieces of paper.

Black mist continued to pour out from the cracks, and the remaining body of the Demon King gradually solidified.

In the blink of an eye, the enormous figure had completely broken free from the crack!

Ron simply turned several sections of air along the street into doors, and the sound waves carrying the pebbles all rushed into the sea.

Shanks seized the opportunity to charge forward head-on, unleashing a deafening burst of Conqueror's Haki!

Griffon tore open his black cloak and blasted the Demon King out of the concert hall.

Boom!

The outer walls collapsed one after another, and the rubble was about to hit the houses on the street.

Ron hurriedly reached out and opened a few more doors.

"Shanks! Don't cut into the city!"

"Then move it to a different place!"

"OK!"

Taking advantage of the Demon King's backward flight, Ron directly opened a giant door behind it, with the exit pointing towards the wasteland he had already scouted out outside the city.

Click!

The enormous demonic body passed through the threshold and crashed heavily onto the wasteland, sending dust flying.

"Walk!"

Shanks chased after them through another door.

You bastard!

Ron gritted his teeth. "You're quite good at ordering people around!"

On the wasteland, the two joined forces once again.

Dimension Slash: Chaos!

Click!

The pitch-black lines crisscrossed, the top hat was slashed off, and half of the body was smashed to pieces on the ground.

Before the fragments could even hit the ground, the black mist swirled back towards the center, piecing them back together in the blink of an eye.

Shanks frowned. "Is this never going to end?"

"I'm annoyed too."

Ron narrowed his eyes.

He saw that each time the Demon King recovered, the crack on his chest would light up briefly, followed by a slight spatial fluctuation from elsewhere.

It wasn't Uta; that girl is silent now.

Ron closed his eyes, using his Observation Haki to follow the slight fluctuation.

Inside the city, the evacuation continues.

Rosinante stayed by Uta's side throughout.

The little girl puffed out her cheeks and strained, her face turning red, but she still couldn't make a sound.

Raki Loo stared in disbelief. "Her abilities... she really can't use them anymore?"

"Um."

Rosinante nodded. "At least in my Silent Field, she can't sing."

Yasopp glanced at Uta, then at him. "So you're the one who's specifically designed to seduce her?"

"It seems so."

Uta's eyes widened, and she waved her little fist at him.

Benn Beckman didn't laugh along; with a cigarette dangling from his lips, he directed the evacuation. "The show is canceled! Everyone, head towards the Port along the street, don't push!"

Vergo, accompanied by Marines and local guards to maintain order, said in a deep voice, "Get the elderly and children out first!"

Gordon directed the theater guards to cut off the power backstage and then had the audience led to the square.

"Don't push! Move in order! Is anyone still trapped inside?"

"The side hall! There are people in the side hall!"

Luo followed the medical staff into the collapsed side hall.

"ROOM!"

A light blue area unfolded, and a wooden beam that had been pressing down on the audience instantly switched places with an empty wooden box next to it.

The man, still shaken, fell onto the cushion and remained there for a long time before recovering.

Luo crouched down to check his breathing, confirming there were no fatal injuries, then turned to look for the next wounded soldier.

"Doctor! There's one more here!"

Meanwhile, Gordon rushed into the Underground Ancient Music Archive and unearthed long-forgotten records.

"Tot Musica... Sing-Sing World... Two Cores?"

He grabbed the book pages and ran outside, dialing the Den Den Mushi as he went.

In the wasteland outside the city, the Demon King pieced his body back together once more.

Boom!

Shanks cleaved its chest in two with a single blow, and Ron raised his hand and slashed the remaining body to pieces with dozens of blades.

But the black mist still retreated.

Just then, Ron's Den Den Mushi rang.

"Rear Admiral Ron! I found the old records!"

It was Gordon, his voice heavy with breath.

Get to the point!

"The Demon King exists in both the real world and the Sing-Sing World!"

"The ancient books say that its core must be struck simultaneously in both worlds to be completely destroyed!"

"Otherwise, no matter which side is destroyed, it will be restored!"

Ron looked up at the Demon King, who had reassembled, and a smile played on his lips.

"I see."

Shanks gripped Griffon's hand tightly. "Is there a way to get in?"

Ron extended his left hand, pointing his fingertips at the crack that had lit up on the Demon King's chest.

"Now we have it."

"Air door open!"

Click--

A door was torn open by the air.

Behind the door, shrouded in a gray haze, a massive black core floated in the void.

Shanks' eyes widened. "There really is a second one?!"

"Um."

Ron stared into the doorway. "We have to work on both sides simultaneously."

Shanks raised his sword and pointed it at the Demon King in reality. "Alright. I'll keep an eye on this one in reality. You go and deal with the other one."

Ron grinned, hoisted Zhenyuan onto his shoulder, and stepped into the doorway.

Deep within the gray world, the black core suddenly opened its scarlet vertical pupils.

Ron looked up and waved at it.

"Yo."

"Didn't expect that, did you? I'm in."